Traffic Jam

I have had some interesting experiences in taxis here in Beijing. Usually I have to say where I want to go at least 5 times in my stumbling Chinese before the driver can figure out what I'm saying, then he just laughs and tries to correct me. Except to me, what he says sounds exactly like what I just said! Maybe someday I'll get it.

The other day I was on my way home from the market and carrying quite a bit, so I jumped in a taxi. He actually understood me rather quickly and we headed towards my house. He went a way I'm not used to, taking quite a few small side streets and winding through neighborhoods. Well we came to one street that was just wide enough for traffic to go both ways. The problem was that there were also a couple people who decided they needed to park on that street.

We were stuck. Cars were lining up and people were getting mad. The security guards from the apartment building on the street were trying to track down the owner of the car that was causing most of the problems, but the honking and yelling was getting crazy. Right next to us, driving the other way was a particularly large and angry man. He was at the front of the line and so people kept coming up to see what the problem was, they would offer him suggestions to get things moving, and he didn't like that one bit.

He started getting a little physical, pushing away the men who came up and yelling. One guy actually tried to get in his car and move it because he was sure he could make it through. That didn't go over well at all. I was just sitting in the taxi watching all of this and minding my own business and hoping it didn't get too violent. After the man tried to get in his car the guy in front was pissed. A woman walked up to give her 2 cents and he knocked her over. She layed on the ground just wailing for a bit. From what I saw she wasn't hurt, and she was up and fine a minute later. Everybody was being so dramatic I was trying really hard not to laugh and be noticed.

The problem was solved so simply a few minutes later. All the cars just had to pull up over the curb and we were able to make it through. It was quite entertaining while it lasted though. It was such a simple solution, but it quickly became a huge big deal. Just an average day in China!